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Cato Weekly Podcast • September 25, 2025 

# Doing It the Hard Way 

FCC chair Brendan Carr’s “easy way or hard way” threat to TV broadcasters lit a censorship firestorm this week. Our Cato panel digs into the government’s jawboning, broadcast licensees’ “junior-varsity” First Amendment rights, and whether it’s time to scrap the FCC altogether. Plus, the latest on AI regulation and the art of the TikTok deal.

#### Show Notes 

[![kimmel ](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/kimmel%20.jpg?itok=jcEaPxtF)](https://www.cato.org/blog/jimmy-kimmel-fcc-why-broadcasters-still-have-junior-varsity-first-amendment-rights) 

blog 

### [Jimmy Kimmel, the FCC, and Why Broadcasters Still Have “Junior Varsity” First Amendment Rights](/blog/jimmy-kimmel-fcc-why-broadcasters-still-have-junior-varsity-first-amendment-rights) 

By [Brent Skorup](https://www.cato.org/people/brent-skorup) 

For reasons the Supreme Court has never persuasively explained, broadcasters enjoy only a diminished version of First Amendment rights.

[![kimmel ](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/kimmel%20.jpg?itok=jcEaPxtF)](https://www.cato.org/blog/kimmel-cancellation-dangerous-sign-free-speech) 

blog 

### [Kimmel Cancellation a Dangerous Sign for Free Speech](/blog/kimmel-cancellation-dangerous-sign-free-speech) 

By [David Inserra](https://www.cato.org/people/david-inserra) and [John Samples](https://www.cato.org/people/john-samples) 

Regardless of whether you like Kimmel or not, in America, we settle our political disagreements and correct errors with more speech, not the government strong-arming the media into only airing certain viewpoints on late-night television.

[![tiktok, instagram](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2024-04/tik%20tok%20censored%20.jpg?itok=t0u3gqEV)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/trumps-tiktok-reprieve-wont-fix-laws-free-speech-problems) 

Commentary 

### [Trump’s TikTok Reprieve Won’t Fix the Law’s Free Speech Problems](/commentary/trumps-tiktok-reprieve-wont-fix-laws-free-speech-problems) 

By [Jennifer Huddleston](https://www.cato.org/people/jennifer-huddleston) 

Extending the deadline gives TikTok a temporary lifeline, but the real issue—government overreach in tech and speech regulation—still needs a congressional fix.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Gene Healy](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Gene%20Healy.jpg?itok=EhkBZWC4)](/people/gene-healy) 

##### [Gene Healy](/people/gene-healy)

Former Senior Vice President for Policy, Cato Institute

[![Ryan Bourne](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Ryan%20Bourne.jpg?itok=nv8-2r7d)](/people/ryan-bourne) 

##### [Ryan Bourne](/people/ryan-bourne)

R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/MrRBourne) [ 

](mailto:rbourne@cato.org) 

[![Brent Skorup cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-05/Brent%20Skorup%20cropped.jpg?itok=5Witkb6w)](/people/brent-skorup) 

##### [Brent Skorup](/people/brent-skorup)

Former Legal Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies

[![Jennifer-Huddleston-img-cropped2.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-06/Jennifer-Huddleston-img-cropped2.jpg?itok=nA04B0o7)](/people/jennifer-huddleston) 

##### [Jennifer Huddleston](/people/jennifer-huddleston)

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/jrhuddles)